Cottage garden charm in Tom’s Tarrytown garden, Part 1
April 25, 2025 Spring is when I get invited — or invite myself — into gardens all around Austin. It’s a rush to see as many as I can before summer and the Death Star arrive. Right now though, it’s sweetness and light! Especially in the charming cottage garden of ...
Cactus flowers, lizards, and another owl sighting
April 23, 2025 It may be peanuts, but that’s a good thing when it comes to peanut cactus. My peanut (Echinopsis chamaecereus) erupted with starry orange flowers last week, and they’re still going strong. They are eye-poppingly orange-red, like molten lava. Cacti have such stunning flowers. This one was a ...
Wildflowers, donkeys, and old-sign magic at Katie Bird Farm
April 22, 2025 Last week I invited myself to Kay Angermann and Julie Nelson’s utterly charming Katie Bird Farm, their home garden on 3 acres in southwest Austin. I love everything about their country garden, starting with this eye-catching vignette along the driveway: an upturned stock tank displaying a succulent ...
Edgeland House, where the wild things are
April 19, 2025 Located in a (formerly) derelict industrial zone in east Austin, Edgeland House is one of the most written-about residences in town, despite being all but invisible from the street. Owner Christopher Brown, a lawyer and author of dystopian science fiction, built his unique house on a brownfield ...
Hopping over to Ruthie’s hilltop garden
April 14, 2025 Last week, I hopped over to Ruthie Burrus’s garden in the Rollingwood neighborhood for a spring visit. Ruthie kindly opened her garden to me and my out-of-town guest Lisa Negri of SummerHome Garden. As always, the gardens surrounding Ruthie’s hilltop home enchant with a textural mix of ...
Wildflower safari east to Independence
April 13, 2025 The wildflower reporters I follow — and my own eyes — say this is a poor year for Texas bluebonnets and other spring wildflowers, especially from Austin west into the Hill Country. Our ongoing drought kept seedlings from germinating last fall, and there hasn’t been much rain ...
Purple passion and roses in Lucinda’s garden
April 03, 2025 When April’s roses unfurl their soft petals, Lucinda Hutson whips up a batch of Purple Passion cocktails (dry gin, fresh lemon juice, and crème de violette liqueur), assembles garden-fresh hors d’oeuvres, and invites her friends over to enjoy the spring spectacle. I count myself very fortunate to ...
Spring swinging into the Wildflower Center
March 27, 2025 Two weekends in a row I spent a few hours at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, first to see what was in bloom and then to support the launch of horticulture director Andrea DeLong-Amaya’s new book, The Texas Native Plant Primer. Redbuds were in bloom two ...
Announcing…Gardens of Texas, my new book!
March 19, 2025 Drum roll, please. My new book has a title and a beautiful cover! Gardens of Texas: Visions of Resilience from the Lone Star State will be available on October 14th, just in time for the fall gardening season and holiday shopping! I am so excited to share ...
Greensleeves Nursery featuring native plants opens in Pflugerville
March 14, 2025 Two weeks ago a new nursery specializing in native Texas plants opened in Pflugerville, just north of Austin. It’s called Greensleeves (cue the old English ballad), appropriate for a place wearing its love of native plants on its sleeve, so to speak. The owner, Willy Glenn, is ...
A limestone entry walk with agaves and yucca
January 28, 2025 A front garden with a limestone entry walk and terracing caught my eye in Austin’s Tarrytown neighborhood last weekend. Whale’s tongue agaves, both in-ground and potted, and a shaggy-trunked beaked yucca say hello as you arrive, drawing you toward the steps and inner garden of sedge, giant ...
Lori’s blue fantasia garden
January 04, 2025 I popped over to my friend Lori Daul‘s house on Thursday, craving one more garden visit before the Arctic barrels down to Austin and brings our long growing season to an end. At Lori’s, fountains still trickle, ponds reflect sky, and plants sprawl luxuriantly. The garden echoes ...
Tobin Land Bridge gives wildlife and people safe passage
January 02, 2025 Before the Tobin Land Bridge was built in Phil Hardberger Park in San Antonio, deer, bobcats, coyotes, armadillos, and other four-legged wildlife had to dash Frogger-like across 6 lanes of traffic to access all 330 acres of habitat. Wurzbach Parkway kept people from exploring half the parkland ...
Merry Christmas from Austin
December 23, 2024 We went downtown last Wednesday for a holiday show by Texas troubadour Robert Earl Keen. Since we were in the neighborhood, we strolled down 2nd Street to view Kempelen’s Owls, a pair of owl sculptures by the Butterfly Bridge at Central Library. I adore these moveable owls, ...
Drive-By Gardens: Diamond path and gravity-defying live oaks
December 21, 2024 This is really a walk-by garden post. I spotted this interesting path during a neighborhood stroll. Square pavers make a zigzagging front walk from the curb through a garden bed and across the lawn. As I took in the scene, I felt I was being watched. Hello, ...
Cadillac Ranch sunset
December 13, 2024 I’ll be getting my kicks on Route 66 more often now that my daughter has relocated to Denver. On a recent road trip back home from Colorado, as we were approaching Amarillo, the sun was sinking low and I had a sudden inspiration — I need to ...